Interim DCF Secretary Esther Jacobo (left) and Pam Graham (right) with FSU's College of Social Work speaking before a Senate hearing Tuesday regarding a DCF Overhaul proposal.

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As Florida lawmakers get closer to overhauling the state’s child welfare agency in an effort to avoid more child deaths, some worry proposed changes could harm the Florida Department of Children and Families. Whether new child protective investigators should be required to have a social work degree became a matter of contention during a Senate hearing Tuesday.

Hollywood Democratic Senator Eleanor Sobel says she believes the proposal her committee will soon put forth will be what she calls “landmark legislation” that will protect the state’s most vulnerable youth:

“This first part of child welfare reform focuses on recruiting and retaining a highly qualified professional workforce with an increase in employment of social workers. Included in the draft is a schedule for implementing these changes,” said Sobel.

The proposal by the Senate Children, Families, and Elder Affairs Committee would require all child abuse investigators and supervisors to hold a bachelor’s or master’s degree in social work. And, starting July 1st, it mandates all new DCF hires have a degree in social work as well. DCF would also be given four years to transition to all social workers.

Pam Graham, who directs the Bachelor of Social Work Program at Florida State University’s College of Social Work applauded the move. She’s also a member of the statewide Child Death Review Committee for about five years, and says she’s seen some child death cases that could have been prevented if investigators held a social work degree.

“If people went in having good professional social work assessment skills to have done a whole assessment, I think as you referred to Senator Detert, looking at what the drug abuse situations, looking at what’s family violence, looking at the entire family system and what they’re supports are, not just looking at is the family safe,” said Graham.

But John Cooper, the CEO of the Ocala children’s advocacy group Kids Central, disagrees, saying some of the best investigators he knows don’t have a social work background. He agrees having a degree in social work is preferred, but says he sees the proposal as a bit ambitious for Florida, citing New Mexico as an example.

“New Mexico instituted this several years ago, requiting an MSW. They had a very limited applicant pool, modified the law the following year, to require a BSW or an MSW, and the following year, had to modify the law again because of a lack of applicants,” said Cooper.

“And, I will point to—and I’ll be happy to send it to you—the work of Dr. Perry at FAMU, who has written several papers about the fact there is no empirical data that social work is any better at outcomes in child protection. Now, that being said, I think it’s important to have social workers that want to come to the department that we can have as part of the workforce,” agreed Interim DCF Secretary Esther Jacobo.

Jacobo says she’s also worried it could encroach on some of the work her department is already doing, like implementing a new program called “paired-CPIs,” where two child protective investigators work together on house calls that require more attention.

“I think some of the mistakes of the past for the department have been to take on too much at once and not get anything done. And, so I would just like to make sure, as we’re looking to improve things, we’re not putting a burden that’s undoable unto our workforce so that nothing gets accomplished as opposed to doing it better,” she added.

Still, the panel’s Chair, Senator Sobel, maintained it’s time for a unique change in the state’s child welfare system.

“I believe this committee here is tired of reading about child deaths, the turnover, new methodology, so we’re looking for some new solution, a change in direction that we haven’t done before. This safety program, this matrix, they come with each Secretary and they go with each Secretary, so we’re looking for something more permanent and more stable,” said Sobel.

About six-percent of DCF’s current employees are social workers.

For more news updates, follow Sascha Cordner on Twitter:@SaschaCordner.

Related Content

As lawmakers looks to craft legislation to curb the recent spate of child deaths within Florida’s child welfare system, they received an update Tuesday about what the Florida Department of Children and Families has been doing to improve its child abuse investigations during a committee that looks at child issues.

At least 20 children connected to Florida’s foster care system have died in 2013, leading the DCF to re-evaluate its child abuse investigations.

A Florida lawmaker hopes to prohibit a practice called “private re-homing” during the 2014 session. The move follows a probe that found people who adopted children overseas gave up those same kids through an informal adoption online.

Informal Online Adoption

According to a Reuters investigation, Americans who tired of raising children they adopt overseas sometimes find their way to online groups—through Yahoo and Facebook—to advertise the child for a second adoption.

An independent review of the Florida Department of Children and Families says the state’s child welfare agency falls short when it comes to its child protective investigative services. The report comes as the state looks to curb a spate of child abuse deaths.

The Department of Children and Families’ recent troubles took center stage at the group’s Child Protection Summit this week in Orlando. The event drew record attendance with 2,500 guardians ad litem, DCF workers, and members of the justice system, along with a group of former foster kids who offered their take on issues facing the department.

In contrast to recent meetings about the rash of children who’ve died recently under the Department of Children and Families’ watch, the Child Protection summit’s kick off seemed more like a concert with music and cheering.

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